Scheduled Monument
Cairnpapple Hill, prehistoric ceremonial complexSM90053
Status: Designated
Documents
Where documents include maps, the use of this data is subject to terms and conditions (https://portal.historicenvironment.scot/termsandconditions).
The legal document available for download below constitutes the formal designation of the monument under the Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Areas Act 1979. The additional details provided on this page are provided for information purposes only and do not form part of the designation. Historic Environment Scotland accepts no liability for any loss or damages arising from reliance on any inaccuracies within this additional information.
Summary
- Date Added
- 23/07/1935
- Last Date Amended
- 09/01/1998
- Type
- Prehistoric ritual and funerary: cairn (type uncertain); henge
- Local Authority
- West Lothian
- Parish
- Torphichen
- NGR
- NS 98726 71746
- Coordinates
- 298726, 671746
Description
The monument comprises a ceremonial complex of prehistoric date on the summit of Cairnpapple Hill. The central part of the complex is in the care of the Secretary of State and is delimited by a modern fence, but the area now to be scheduled extends beyond this fence.
The monument occupies the summit of Cairnpapple Hill, lying in improved pasture at around 310m OD. It comprises a henge, or ritual enclosure, of Neolithic date, within which limited excavations have uncovered a sequence of burials ranging in date from the Neolithic period to the Iron Age. The principal focus of activity, however, appears to have been in the Neolithic period and Bronze Age, from around 5000-1400 BC.
Excavations on other sites of this kind, in Scotland and elsewhere, have demonstrated that henges formed the focus for extensive ceremonial activity in prehistory, including the construction of timber buildings and enclosures, human burial, and ritual deposition. Remains associated with such activity may be expected to survive in the vicinity of the upstanding remains.
The area to be scheduled encompasses the area in state care and the area formerly scheduled, together with an area around this, beyond the upstanding elements of the monument, in which traces of associated ritual activity may be expected to survive. It is irregular in shape with maximum dimensions of 280m NE-SW by 215m as marked in red on the accompanying map. Above-ground modern features associated with the radio mast and its compound, and other above-ground modern features as they exist at the date of this scheduling extension, are excluded from the scheduling.
References
Bibliography
No Bibliography entries for this designation
About Scheduled Monuments
Historic Environment Scotland is responsible for designating sites and places at the national level. These designations are Scheduled monuments, Listed buildings, Inventory of gardens and designed landscapes and Inventory of historic battlefields.
We make recommendations to the Scottish Government about historic marine protected areas, and the Scottish Ministers decide whether to designate.
Scheduling is the process that identifies, designates and provides statutory protection for monuments and archaeological sites of national importance as set out in the Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Areas Act 1979.
We schedule sites and monuments that are found to be of national importance using the selection guidance published in Designation Policy and Selection Guidance (2019)
Scheduled monument records provide an indication of the national importance of the
scheduled monument which has been identified by the description and map. The description and map (see ‘legal documents’ above) showing the scheduled area is the designation of the monument under the Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Areas Act 1979. The statement of national importance and additional information provided are supplementary and provided for general information purposes only. Historic Environment Scotland accepts no liability for any loss or damages arising from reliance on any inaccuracies within the statement of national importance or additional information. These records are not definitive historical or archaeological accounts or a complete description of the monument(s).
The format of scheduled monument records has changed over time. Earlier records will usually be brief. Some information will not have been recorded and the map will not be to current standards. Even if what is described and what is mapped has changed, the monument is still scheduled.
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